1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for removing roe by pressing the abdomen of a decapitated fish body.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A known apparatus for removal of roe from the abdominal cavity of a fish body conveys the decapitated fish body and presses the abdomen by pressing means composed of, for example, a long pushing bar.
In such prior art arrangement, the pushing bar contacts headless fish bodies sequentially conveyed in a downstream conveying direction. As a fish body is conveyed in the downstream conveying direction while the pushing bar is abutting against the abdomen, the abdomen of the fish body is pressed against the pushing bar, so that the ovaries are extracted from the abdominal cavity. Thus, when the abdomen of a fish body is being pressed by the pushing bar, as this fish body is moved from the tail end side to the vicinity of the neck, it is curved in the upstream direction. Therefore, another fish body disposed adjacently and of the first fish must be located at a sufficient clearance therefrom to ensure that it does not contact the first downstream fish body. Therefore, the roe collecting operation is suspended after removing the roes from the first fish until the next fish abuts against the pushing bar. The efficiency of such roe removal process is poor.